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Red Wing teacher charged with having sex with teen

RED WING, Minn. -- A former Red Wing High school teacher faces criminal sexual conduct charges following allegations from a student.

Durk Lee Stark, 42, is accused of having a sexual relationship with a girl, who was 17 at the time, from November 2009 to June 2010.

Stark voluntarily resigned from his position as a special education teacher April 1.

Supt. Stan Slessor said Stark was on placed mandatory leave Oct. 25, 2010, after the district learned about the allegations. Stark had been employed with the district since August 2009, Slessor said.

Stark is charged with one count of third-degree and one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. If convicted, he could serve up to 15 years in prison and pay a $30,000 fine.

The court complaint, filed April 8, states that Stark had sex with the girl "multiple times." The incidents occurred in Stark's car or just outside his car in several wooded areas, one near the high school, one in Hay Creek Township and others in Wisconsin, the complaint says.

The girl reported that the incidents would start with Stark flirting with her at school and then after school he would drive them off school property to have sex with her.

The complaint also states that the girl would go to Stark's classroom after school to get help on her math homework, even though she did not have Stark as a teacher. The girl said that topics of conversation during these meetings would turn sexual.

Stark told the girl he knew "what he was doing was wrong, and told her not to tell about it," the complaint says.

Stark took the girl to Red Lobster in Oakdale, Minn., as a "first date," the girl said in the complaint. It also states he told the girl they would date openly once she turned 18.

A call made to Stark was not immediately returned. He has not yet been arrested, the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office reported.

"The safety and wellbeing of a student is a priority for us," Slessor said. "When we received that information (about the allegations) last fall, we immediately placed the teacher on mandatory leave."

Slessor added that the district is cooperating with the investigation by the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office. He also stressed that the incidents of sexual intercourse detailed in the court complaint did not happen on school property. He could not confirm whether the girl is still enrolled at Red Wing.

Stark, whose current address is listed as Alexandria, Minn., on the complaint, will make his first court appearance June 3 in Goodhue County District Court.

Because some of the alleged incidents occurred in Wisconsin, Goodhue County District Attorney Erin Kuester said all of the information pertaining to the case was sent to Pepin County for review. If that county decides to prosecute, Stark could face separate charges in both Goodhue and Pepin counties, Kuester said.